Chris Cornell - Higher Truth

Chris Cornell, known most famously for grunge-era Soundgarden and a brief stint as frontman for Audioslave, has done well for himself as a solo artist. It is unfortunate that many talented stars fade, only because they are overshadowed by what they are most known for.

To be fair, Soundgarden was an amazing band and nothing can or should be taken away from that. Chris and the band set a bar so high that not even Chris could expect it to be surpassed. Though Cornell’s solo work may not be as widely known, most of the world re-familiarized themselves with his existence after the release of the reboot of James Bond in 2006’s Casino Royale, for which he provided the intro credits and main theme song, “Know My Name”, though he had already been churning out solo work for six years prior with two studio albums.

Chris has a proclivity for true guitar based songs with rustic songwriting and deep and genuine lyrical components. It’s not country or folk, it’s just good fucking rock. You’d never know that Chris has surpassed 50 years old. It sounds as though Chris is wailing over the mike just as he did as a twenty-something guy living in Seattle when it all started happening.

Artists with a distinctive voice often find it hard to shake the ghosts of the past when making their foray into solo work. Billy Corgan, Mick Jagger, Gwen Stefani, Paul McCartney to name a few; all achieving varying levels of expectations and success. Chris Cornell deserves to be credited for his noble and rather shining endeavors as a solo artist. Fans of Soundgarden likely followed Chris when he briefly joined Audioslave. Fans will likely have continued to follow him with his solo work. Why? It doesn’t exactly sound like Soundgarden.. but it sort of does. It goes without saying that whatever influences and styles Chris brought into Soundgarden he still has with him today.

Higher Truth is a great accomplishment. All history aside, all expectations aside, Higher Truth ranks well with the scope of rock music, bringing a lot of the Gen Xers back to the 90s. Better times.